Bottoms Up
by Cmdr's Monkey
Summary: Jack asks a favor of Barbossa. Post-OST


**Bottoms Up**

"Surprised to see yeh here Jaaack." Hector Barbossa said while he sat casually at the tavern table in the Faithful Bride. He had an arm draped over the back of his chair while his good leg was propped up on another. Scrum and the cabin boy, whose name he had yet to remember, sat lazily around the table drinking their rum and keeping a wary eye on the newcomer.

Jack Sparrow invited himself to Barbossa's table, flicked a wandering fly from his person before promptly 'borrowing' Scrum's drink with a protesting "Here now, that's mine!"

Ignoring the rangy pirate, Jack answered his fellow rival, "I see you've managed to get back into the good graces of our lovely but bloodthirsty, greedy brotherhood with little trouble, Hector."

"Aye. Sailin' into port captainin' the Queen Anne's Revenge has the tendency to allow that," replied the Caspian Lord. "But that still doesn't answer me question."

"What question would that be?" Jack stared into the now empty bottle with a pouting frown before handing it back to Scrum. The pirate was not all that happy his rum was gone and stood up to go procure himself another bottle.

"Why are you here?" Barbossa asked and quickly swatted Jack's hand away from his own rum bottle. The cabin boy was smart enough to keep his own out of reach and Hector chuckled as Jack made a face at the lack of rum in his hands.

The pirate gestured for a barmaid and ordered a bottle for himself and gave her a promise of a good time if she was quick about getting it to him. She left with a huff at his toothy smile and lecherous wink before he turned his attention back to the pirate across from him.

"Rum and women like always," he dodged. Barbossa didn't buy it like he knew the man wouldn't. So he avoided in answering by asking a question of his own. "How's the peg leg?"

Barbossa scowled and then growled, "No you cannot have the rum that's in it. Now answer me question or I'll have yeh thrown out for wastin' my time an' annoyin' me."

"I doubt you could throw me as far as you can trust me which I know for a fact isn't very far considering I wouldn't trust myself either." Jack quipped with a grin. But that grin faded quickly when Hector raised a hand and several swords unsheathed and pistols cocked around them and the tavern fell silent as it held it's breath for an impending confrontation.

"I'll not be doin' the tossin', Jack, as yeh can see." Hector laughed and those of his crew joined in. He had to give Jack credit for not shrinking into his seat at the face of danger. "Again the perks of bein' captain of the most notorious ship in the Seven Seas."

"Thought the Pearl was in your eyes, mate." Jack reminded him and watched as Hector shrugged and waved at his crew to go back to what they had been doing. The tavern resumed it's buzz of conversation and music as if nothing had happened.

"She still is an' always will be, but considerin' the fact that she be all bottled up at the moment, she's therefore not." Hector replied regrettably. He took a swig of his rum and nearly choked on it when Sparrow pulled out a bottle from inside his coat and set it down in front of him.

"Perhaps you would like to help me rectify that?" Jack grinned at him.

Hector and the cabin boy leaned forward for a closer look. Inside was a black galleon with black sails, sailing on an endless sea. Both pirates jerked back when a certain monkey swung on a tackle line close to the bottle's walls and screeched at them.

"Jack," Barbossa breathed at the sight of his pet. His gaze snapped up at the monkey's namesake. "How?" He had searched the entire ship for the Pearl but had found nothing except for an empty vault in the cabin. Now he knew why it had been empty. Apparently, somehow, Sparrow had managed to steal the ship bottles while no one was looking.

"Matters not how I got her, mate." Jack replied and carefully started to return the bottled ship to his coat but Barbossa's vice like grip on his wrist stopped him from lifting it so much as an inch from the table top.

"Don't," he commanded and Jack thought twice about defying the older pirate right now. He watched his rival as the man stared almost melancholy at it. He could see Barbossa was remembering that night off the coast of Hispaniola and Jack could only shudder at his own imagination at what might have happened, knowing what he knew from personal experience.

"So... What do you say?" Jack intruded finally and Hector looked up at him, blinking in confusion for a moment before sitting back in his chair. The barmaid returned with Jack's rum but before the pirate could take it, she upturned it on him much to Barbossa's amusement and Jack's surprise.

Hector grinned like a wolf and tried not to laugh as the woman left a drenched Sparrow holding on to the bottled Black Pearl. "Aye, I'll help, lad."

Jack carefully pulled his rum filled hat off and held it up in a toast before returning Hector's grin with his own.

"Here's to the Pearl!"

"To the Pearl!"


End file.
